The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[MrTibbs]

An interesting event, little commented upon and maybe even unnoticed, was happening from 11th August 1956 which had never been achieved before and not even since to date. It was the total domination of a record label to hold the #1 position for a lengthy period consecutively with different artists.
From 11th August the Philips label will have an uninterrupted strangle hold at the top until February 16th 1957.

Doris Day will be followed by Anne Shelton, Frankie Laine, Johnnie Ray, Guy Mitchell and Frankie Vaughan all on Philips, only Tab Hunter will end this total domination by a label on 23rd February with Young Love on London.

A 28 week run for Philips at #1. That's quite a remarkable achievement by any standard.

To pre-empt the inevitable point being raised that Tommy Steele on Decca went to #1 in January 1957 on both NME and RM this was on different weeks and never on MM so would not have been top using any averaging process.

[kingofskiffle]

It would be a sound business decision if they had the records and could not return them.

[MrTibbs]

On that I honestly don't know about the fifties or early sixties Robbie as it was a decade and a bit later before I was regularly buying records but I can remember my local record shops selling off overstocked chart or non charting singles in boxes on the counter cheaply by the late sixties. I picked up quite a few extra hits that way.

[Robbie]

The bottom end of the NME chart often had re-entries including past hits that left the chart weeks before. All it would take I think is for a couple of dealer returns to place it high for some reason and this would be reflected. RM and MM often had similar at the bottom end of their chart too.

Did shops have "bargain bins" in those days, where records dropping off the charts were sold off cheap or was that something that came years later? If records were sold off cheap and picked up a few sales, the low level of dealer returns could mean that it would only take a small handful of dealers doing this to lead to a record recharting.

[MrTibbs]

The bottom end of the NME chart often had re-entries including past hits that left the chart weeks before. All it would take I think is for a couple of dealer returns to place it high for some reason and this would be reflected. RM and MM often had similar at the bottom end of their chart too.

[kingofskiffle]

It could very well be a supply issue of the record into stores....

[braindeadpj]

Anyone know what triggered 'Only You' to return? It's been absent for 6 weeks.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending August 11th 1956

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending August 11th 1956							NME	MM	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	65	20	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Whatever Will Be Will Be - Doris Day					1	1	1	4350
1	2	Why Do Fools Fall In Love - The Teenagers					3	2	2	4140
3	3	Walk Hand In Hand - Tony Martin					2	4	4	4045
4	4	A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl - Teresa Brewer					5	3	3	3930
6	5	Mountain Greenery - Mel Torme					4	6	5	3815
5	6	I'll Be Home - Pat Boone					7	5	6	3580
7	7	Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley					6	8	9	3405
11	8	All Star Hit Parade - Various Artists					8	8	7	3395
8	9	The Wayward Wind - Tex Ritter					10	11	8	3145
10	10	Who Are We - Ronnie Hilton					9	7	12	3050
12	11	The Saints Rock'n'Roll - Bill Haley and His Comets					11	12	10	2940
9	12	Bluebottle Blues / I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas - The Goons					13	13	16	2430
13	13	The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant					19	10	11	2400
17	14	Walk Hand In Hand - Ronnie Carroll					16	15	13	2375
14	15	Experiments With Mice - Johnny Dankworth					12	16	20	2195
15	16	Hot Diggity - Perry Como					15		17	1880
18	17	The Faithful Hussar - Ted Heath					18		15	1805
26	18	Hot Diggity - Michael Holliday					17	14		1250
NEW	19	Why Do Fools Fall In Love - Alma Cogan (A)					22		20	1245
19	20	Lost John - Lonnie Donegan					25		17	1230
21	21	Left Bank - Winifred Atwell					14			1105
16	22	Serenade - Slim Whitman					30		14	1085
24	23	I Want You I Need You I Love You - Elvis Presley					23	16		820
RE	24	Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley							19	720
27	25	My September Love - David Whitfield					20			715
22	26	Moonglow And Theme From Picnic - Morris Stoloff					21			650
RE	27	Only You - The Hilltoppers					24			455
25	28	Carousel Waltz - Ray Martin					28	19		435
20	29	Too Young To Go Steady - Nat King Cole					26			325
29	30	Bad Penny Blues - Humphrey Lyttleton					27			260
		Rocking Through The Rye - Bill Haley and His Comets						18		260
		Donkey Cart - Frank Chacksfield						19		240
		Rock Island Line / Heartbreak Hotel - Stan Freberg					29			130
		Long Tall Sally - Pat Boone					30			65
23		Walk Hand In Hand - Jimmy Parkinson
28		A Tear Fell - Teresa Brewer
30		The Birds And The Bees - Alma Cogan (B)

[MrTibbs]

Oops. Thanks brain. Sorted.

[braindeadpj]

You missed out the chart position for the Frank Sinatra LP presumably 26?

[brian05]

Truly horrendous "cover" versions. What were people in 1956 thinking of?

[Robbie]

A very strange chart run by Mel Torme.

[Robbie]

I am sure Monsieur Tibbs will be able to fit in all the words when the record appears!

In the USA these novelty records were played by Dr Demento in his networked radio show. He also lent his name to compilation albums; some were released over here although noone knew who he was. I remember a Best Of album; the Spike Jones track on there was 'Do you want to buy a bunny?'.

If you have an internet radio you can still hear his show, other novelty record stations - and even a 24 hour Goons station.

I remember Dr Demento from a show he hosted on AFN (American Forces Network) Europe in the late 1970s. He played a number of weird records, or at least that's how they sounded at the time to the young me. If I recall his show was on at 9pm on weekday nights with Wolfman Jack on an hour earlier at 8pm. It was the first time I'd heard of either DJ. I've just checked and Dr Demento is still around and is 80 year old.

[MrTibbs]

After floating around for weeks, then leaving the chart, re-entering last week Mel Torme suddenly takes a JUMP right into the middle of the top ten.
Similarly after starting slowly Slim Whitman's Serenade is now also making waves too.
As Tony Martin goes top three another two versions by Ronnie Carroll and Jimmy Parkinson are charting too.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending August 4th 1956

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending August 4th 1956							NME	MM	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	65	20	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Why Do Fools Fall In Love - The Teenagers					1	1	1	4350
6	2	Whatever Will Be Will Be - Doris Day					2	5	2	4145
5	3	Walk Hand In Hand - Tony Martin					3	2	5	3960
14	4	A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl - Teresa Brewer					5	3	3	3930
2	5	I'll Be Home - Pat Boone					4	4	4	3915
17	6	Mountain Greenery - Mel Torme					9	11	7	3270
4	7	Hearbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley					6	6	12	3265
10	8	The Wayward Wind - Tex Ritter					8	10	9	3235
7	9	Bluebottle Blues / I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas - The Goons					10	13	6	3225
11	10	Who Are We - Ronnie Hilton					6	8	13	3165
3	11	All Star Hit Parade - Various Artists					13	7	8	3030
13	12	The Saints Rock'n'Roll - Bill Haley and His Comets					12	9	11	2875
12	13	The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant					14	19	10	2605
9	14	Experiments With Mice - Johnny Dankworth					15	13	14	2420
8	15	Hot Diggity - Perry Como					10	12	20	2405
23	16	Serenade - Slim Whitman					18	16	15	2105
19	17	Walk Hand In Hand - Ronnie Carroll					19	17	18	1840
28	18	The Faithful Hussar - Ted Heath					20		17	1555
15	19	Lost John - Lonnie Donegan					21		16	1550
25	20	Too Young To Go Steady - Nat King Cole					16	15		1295
21	21	Left Bank - Winifred Atwell					17			910
16	22	Moonglow And Theme From Picnic - Morris Stoloff					22	17		865
NEW	23	Walk Hand In Hand - Jimmy Parkinson							19	720
RE	24	I Want You I Need You I Love You - Elvis Presley					23			520
RE	25	Carousel Waltz - Ray Martin					24			455
RE	26	Hot Diggity - Michael Holliday					25			390
20	27	My September Love - David Whitfield					27			260
24	28	A Tear Fell - Teresa Brewer						19		240
18	29	Bad Penny Blues - Humphrey Lyttleton					28			195
27	30	The Birds And The Bees - Alma Cogan					29			130
30		Long Tall Sally - Pat Boone					30			65
		Songs For Swingin' Lovers (LP) - Frank Sinatra					26			325
22		Be-Bop-A-Lula - Gene Vincent
26		Rock Island Line / Heartbreak Hotel - Stan Freberg
29		Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley

[Splodj]

the Goon credits are always fun. And yes I think thats about right.

I am sure Monsieur Tibbs will be able to fit in all the words when the record appears!

In the USA these novelty records were played by Dr Demento in his networked radio show. He also lent his name to compilation albums; some were released over here although noone knew who he was. I remember a Best Of album; the Spike Jones track on there was 'Do you want to buy a bunny?'.

If you have an internet radio you can still hear his show, other novelty record stations - and even a 24 hour Goons station.

[CatoFur]

he also did a parody of the cop shows at the time I liked - Saint George and the Dragnet I believe although I might have the title wrong.

Whitburn has it as "St. George And The Dragonet". Fun record.

[MrTibbs]

Stan Freberg was huge in America. Have a listen to All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.

For me the best parody of All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth was Spike Jones and His City Slickers who had US number one with it over Christmas 1948. It really is very good.

[kingofskiffle]

Stan Freberg was huge in America. Have a listen to All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth. Heard it for the first times as a small kid way before Mariah did all I want for Christmas is you and yet every time I hear hers I want to sing his lyric instead!

he also did a parody of the cop shows at the time I liked - Saint George and the Dragnet I believe although I might have the title wrong.

the Goon credits are always fun. And yes I think that’s about right. I’ve had the same issue trying to get the right artist credits for the database.

[Splodj]

I have probably got some of that spelling wrong - trying to read it off photos of the record.

[Splodj]

Ah well ... the subject of full artist credit brings us to the forthcoming Goons record.

The A side is 'featuring Major Dennis Bloodnok with Roland Rockcake und stizen Wholly Rockers'.

The B side is 'mit Maurice Ponke und seimen Orchestra Fromage'.

[Robbie]

NEW

26

Rock Island Line / Heartbreak Hotel - Stan Freberg

Don’t remember that combination. Were these instrumental versions?

I've not heard of Stan Freberg so had to look him up. It appears he was a big radio personality, an actor, a comedian and a musician among many other things. The two songs were parody songs.

https://www.45cat.com/record/cl14608

The above entry at 45.cat includes a youtube video for each song.

'Rock Island Line' is officially the B side. The artist credit for the song is Stan Freberg And His Sniffle Group!

[brian05]

NEW

26

Rock Island Line / Heartbreak Hotel - Stan Freberg

Don’t remember that combination. Were these instrumental versions?

[MrTibbs]

However please keep all your comments coming in between chart postings as these too help to keep the thread alive and interesting and encourage views. Thanks to you all who commented and liked above. Your commitment continues to be much appreciated as with all other followers of the thread too.

[MrTibbs]

Hi guys, worry ye not. I never intended to stop posting the UAC, the project means as much to me as it obviously does to all of you judging by your comments above. It's important to finish it to give a complete run between 1955 and 1969 so that was never in doubt.

The point I raised above was just my frustration at the drop off in daily visits to it. I probably was a bit unrealistic in my expectations that these years would generate as much interest as the later years. That said I also believed that the uniqueness of lining up the competing charts side by side was a first not to be found in any book and that alone would carry it as a contribution of historical musical interest even for those not interested in these early charts.

Kjell's point above is relevant in that we have already seen how little interest or even knowledge survives on the Sheet Music Chart of the 40's and early 50's and now the later 50's seems to be heading the same way and we are in danger of losing and forgetting our cultural and musical heritage if not kept to the fore.